nep-dcm New Economics Papers
on Discrete Choice Models
Issue of 2018‒06‒11
three papers chosen by
Edoardo Marcucci
Università degli studi Roma Tre

  1. The role of driving range in consumers’ purchasing decision for electric cars in Italy By Giansoldati, Marco; Danielis, Romeo; Rotaris, Lucia; Scorrano, Mariangela
  2. Social norms and pro-environment behaviours: heterogeneous response to signals By Mikołaj Czajkowski; Katarzyna Zagórska; Nick Hanley
  3. E-commerce in agriculture: The case of crop protection product purchases in a discrete choice experiment By Fecke, Wilm; Danne, Michael; Mußhoff, Oliver

  1. By: Giansoldati, Marco; Danielis, Romeo; Rotaris, Lucia; Scorrano, Mariangela
    Abstract: The paper reports the results of a stated preference study, carried out in Italy in 2017, on consumers’ preferences between an electric car (EC) and a petrol car. The focus is on the role of driving range. We find that the linear specification leads to lower willingness to pay (WTP) estimate for the driving range than the logarithmic, quadratic and EC-specific ones. The estimation of a mixed logit model leads to a coefficient of the EC-specific range attribute six times larger than the coefficient of the non-EC one. The jointly statistically significant covariates explaining the heterogeneity of the coefficient of the EC-specific driving range attribute are gender, number of cars owned by the family, and knowledge of cars. The implied WTP varies from 37 to 106 €/km, depending on the socio-economic characteristics of the respondent. Simulative analysis shows that very relevant increases in the probability of buying an electric car (ranging from 28% to 68%) over a petrol one require jointly improvements in the fast charging network, driving range and financial incentives.
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sit:wpaper:18_4&r=dcm
  2. By: Mikołaj Czajkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Katarzyna Zagórska (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Nick Hanley (University of Glasgow, Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine)
    Abstract: Previous research on pro-environment behaviours demonstrated an effect of communicating social norms to subjects. In this paper, we extend this work by isolating the effects of information about (i) the absolute level (strength) of the norm (ii) its geographic proximity (iii) whether the norm is stated in relative terms. We also show how previous pro-environmental behaviours interact with social norm information. The context is a stated preference choice experiment on recycling behaviours by households in Poland. The main finding to emerge is that social norm effects on preferences seem to be very context-dependent; there is no evidence of generalizable effects which would be useful to policy designers.
    Keywords: recycling, social norms, stated preferences, choice modelling
    JEL: D04 D91 Q51 Q53
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2018-13&r=dcm
  3. By: Fecke, Wilm; Danne, Michael; Mußhoff, Oliver
    Abstract: The internet is playing an increasing role in the development of rural areas. For farmers in particular, reliable internet access creates opportunities concerning farm management decisions. Hence, the goal of this study was to investigate German farmers' willingness to buy inputs online. Primary data was collected by conducting a discrete choice experiment about the purchase of crop protection products. Selection decisions of 165 arable farmers were analyzed by a generalized multinomial logit model (GMNL) resulting in willingness to accept (WTA) space estimation. WTA estimates show that farmers are willing to switch to an online merchant if they are offered a significantly lower price. However, word-of-mouth-reputation and consultation offered via traditional media do not influence farmers' WTA for an online merchant. In contrast, delivery time significantly affects farmers' WTA for inputs purchased online. We also show that farmers' risk attitudes, prior online shopping experiences, and education are influential factors for the WTA for an online merchant. Surprisingly, age and farm size do not impact farmers' WTA. Since e-commerce has not been widely established in agriculture yet, these results are of great practical importance. The findings of this study give online merchants of agricultural inputs a first orientation for choosing appropriate marketing measures. Moreover, results are interesting for education policy.
    Keywords: Internet use,E-commerce,Input purchasing,Online merchants,German farmers
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:daredp:1803&r=dcm

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